


Nine legal guardians, waiting in a row

by SilverMyfanwy



Series: basically peter's school vs the avengers [1]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man - All Media Types, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Avengers Family, Avengers Tower, Bullying, Cleaning, Domestic, Domestic Avengers, Domestic Fluff, F/M, Fights, Gen, Good Peter, High School, Punishment, Suspension, getting grounded
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-20
Updated: 2019-01-20
Packaged: 2019-10-07 05:29:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,440
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17359916
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilverMyfanwy/pseuds/SilverMyfanwy
Summary: Having your parents get called into school is bad enough.Unfortunately for Peter, he has nine legal guardians waiting for him outside the principal's office.





	Nine legal guardians, waiting in a row

**Author's Note:**

> This was a blast to write. I hope you enjoy it.  
> TRIGGER WARNING: Mention of fighting, mention of bullying, misogyny and anti-immigration views.  
> I wrote this before watching Spiderman: Homecoming, so it is not canon compliant.  
> Also, I don't have a clue how the American education disciplinary systems work or how legal guardianship stuff works in America, so I made a bunch of stuff up. 😁
> 
> Please let me know if I missed any potential triggers so I can add them.

Tony’s day was going beautifully until JARVIS told him about an incoming phone call.

“Who’s it from?”

“Peter Parker’s school, sir.”

Tony’s heart skipped a beat and he put down the soldering iron in his hand. “Put them through.”

“Hello, is this Mr Stark?” a clipped voice rang through the speakers.

“Yes.”

“Good afternoon, I’m ringing to inform you that all of Peter Parker’s secondary legal guardians are being asked to come into the school for a meeting with the principal about a fight he was in earlier today. We were unable to get hold of his primary legal guardian as she is at work.”

“He’s been fighting?”

“Yes.”

Tony sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

“Thank you Mr Stark.”

Tony ended the call and groaned. “JARVIS, have the others been contacted by the school?”

“They are currently being contacted sir.”

“Remind me how many secondary legal guardians Peter has.”

“Nine, sir.”

“I need to buy a minivan. Are they all at the Tower?”

“All but Dr Banner and Ms Potts are, but they are both in the area of the school.”

“Tell everyone to get smart, take-me-serious, put-the-fear-of-God-into-Peter-because-he’s-in-so-much-trouble clothes on and meet me downstairs in five minutes and also get the car with the most seats in it ready to go.” Tony thought for a moment. “And get Sam to practice his ‘I’m disappointed in you’ face and talk because that can make Barnes feel bad. But don’t tell either of them I said that.”

“Yes sir.”

-

“I don’t understand,” Bucky grumbled from the back of the car, clearly resisting the urge to poke his slicked-back hair. He had negotiated his way out of wearing dress uniform and had persuaded Steve to let him wear skinny jeans and a jacket, because Winter Soldier clothes were not considered safe for schools. “Why are we going into the school coz Peter’s been fighting? And why’d we have to change for it?”

“Because he absolutely, one hundred percent, should not have been fighting and now he’s in trouble.” Pepper said firmly.

“Well-” Tony began, but stopped when Pepper glared at him.

“But why can’t the school just tell him off? Give ‘im detention or somethin’? And also that kid wouldn’t have got in a fight if the other party didn’t deserve it, so really we should just be making sure that he used the right punches and won.” Bucky argued.

Steve was horrified. “No, Buck, you can’t just praise him for getting in a fight even if someone did deserve it-”

“Hypocrite.” Bucky muttered. “Nat, tell Steve he’s a hypocrite.”

“Hypocrite.”

Steve scowled at Nat and Bucky beamed at her. “Thank you!”

Hill looked positively murderous. “If he’s got in a fight, he could have completely blown his cover. This could be disastrous for SHIELD, the school could get in trouble, he might be expelled or moved to a secure unit school, there could be a lawsuit that might go public-”

“It won’t.” Tony said confidently. “I have the best lawyers in the world, it won’t. Bruce is meeting us at the school. Here he is.”

Tony parked the car- borrowed off a man who works in reception and has seven kids- and they piled out into the car park. “This way.”

“How do you know where to go?” Steve asked.

“Well, Bruce is standing over by that door looking around for someone and he seems rather worried.”

Bruce caught sight of them quickly. “Thank goodness you’re here.”

“Is Peter okay?” Clint demanded. “Do I need to go and beat someone up or call an ambulance?”

“Black eye, might have a bruised nose, badly sprained wrist but he hasn’t broken any fingers. And he walked into a locker this morning and broke a toe but he texted me to say it’s healed.” Bruce listed. “He says he’s alright but that’s what the nurse told me because I haven’t been allowed to see him yet.”

“Why not?” Nat asked, looking more terrifying by the second.

“He’s in the nurse’s office. The nurse didn’t believe I was a doctor and there was something about me not being allowed in until all of you were here as well, or something.”

“Does he know you’re here?” Pepper asked.

“I don’t know. This is reception, we should go in.”

-

The receptionist’s eyebrows nearly hit her hairline when they walked in.

“We’re here to meet with the principal about Peter Parker.” Pepper told her.

“Please sign yourselves in.” she gestured to a touch-screen facing them. “Then take a seat outside the principal’s office. I’ll get some more chairs.”

They signed themselves in and by the time they were done, the receptionist had finished putting out extra chairs further along the corridor, next to the door to the principal’s office.

“We’ve never had this many people get called into the school about one student before.” she told them apologetically, wringing her hands. “We haven’t got enough chairs for out here and in the office, so when you’re called in, which won’t be too long now, I’m sure, could you please take your chairs in with you?”

They nodded.

“Mr Parker should be with you shortly.” she checked her watch. “It’s only three minutes until the end of the current lesson.”

They sat in silence, waiting for Peter to arrive.

“It’s been four minutes.” Tony said under his breath.

“Be patient.”

“Someone’s coming.” Steve said suddenly. “I can hear someone coming.”

No one else heard anything for another 20 seconds until footsteps could be heard by those with a normal hearing range and Peter rounded the corner, hand over a hole in his bag to keep the books from falling out, sporting a bruised face and a sling. He stopped when he saw them. “I didn’t realise all of you would be called in.”

“Well, you shouldn’t have been fighting then, should you?” Pepper snapped. “Sit down.”

Peter sat down next to Clint.

“Did you start it?” Tony asked.

Peter was silent.

“Peter.” Steve growled. “Tony asked you a question. Answer him.”

“What do you mean by ‘start it’?” Peter asked quietly. “Start the, um, altercation, or throw the first punch, or say the first thing, or-”

“Did. You. Start. It.” Sam said warningly. “You’re being smart and you aren’t stupid. You can’t talk your way out of this one.”

“I wasn’t going to talk my way out of it.” Peter muttered.

“You’re pushing your luck around the wrong people, boy.” Bucky cautioned.

Somehow, despite the fact that Peter dealt with people with scary accents all the time, Bucky’s Brooklyn accent with a Russian edge still scared him. He sighed. “He started it. It was- it was Flash, he said something and I said something and then he said something and I said something and then he did something and MJ go into a fight with someone and Flash and I started fighting.”

“Is MJ okay?” Pepper asked.

“She went to ER. Broken arm and minor head wound. She was still yellin’ insults when the ambulance came, so she’s gonna be alright.”

“So Flash started it.” Tony deduced.

Peter nodded.

“And will he say he started it?”

“No.”

There was silence. Bucky muttered something to Natasha in Russian and she whispered something into Tony’s ear.

“You alright kid?” Steve’s voice was concerned and had everyone turning towards Peter.

Peter rubbed his eyes and sniffed.

Tony got up and crouched in front of him. “Why are you shaking?”

Peter looked away from him.

“Peter, why are you shaking?”

“Coz I’m scared.” his voice cracked and he rubbed at his eyes some more.

“Why are you scared? They’re not going to kick you out of the school, you’re way too smart and you’ve caused hardly any trouble.”

“But you might.” Peter’s voice shook.

“Peter, we did not come all the way here just to kick you out. We might ground you, we will probably yell at you, but I promise you will not get kicked out or disowned. Look at me. Peter, look at me.”

Peter looked up slowly.

“Mr Truth and Justice over there got into more fights than you’ve had hot dinners when he was your age, but we still kept him.”

Peter gave a small smile.

“You’re in a lot of trouble, but it ain’t worth cryin’ over. OK?”

Peter nodded.

“Good kid.” Tony returned to his chair and Clint slung an arm around Peter’s shoulders.

The door of the principal’s office opened and Ms Brown introduced herself to all of the adults, shaking their hands. “Please come in now.”

They filed in and sat down. The principle sat behind her desk, did something on her computer then looked around the room. “As I am sure you are all aware, you have been called in because Peter was involved in a fight.”

They nodded.

“The fight involved a number of students, but he was one of the main aggressors.”

“I wasn’t an aggressor, I was defending.” Peter said angrily.

The principal sighed and looked at Tony. “Normally, for a fight like this one, we would only be calling you in to discuss Peter’s punishment, but as one of the other students involved in the fight is threatening to press charges, we need you to be present for when Peter tells us what he saw and what happened. I’m going to need each of you to sign this form stating that you were present when Peter made the statement.” Ms Brown pushed a pile of forms across her desk to Tony, who gave them to Pepper to check.

Once the forms were dealt with, the principal turned to Peter. “Peter, if you could tell me what happened.”

“I was walking down the corridor with Ned and MJ and then Flash and his goons showed up. He said- do I have to say what he said exactly or can I just say it roughly?”

“We’d like it if you told us exactly but if there are things you don’t feel comfortable saying you can write them down.”

Peter gulped. “He said that Trump was right for blocking immigrants coz they take all the spaces in schools that should be for people who are actually smart. MJ told him to shut up and that he was one to talk so he- he called her a- can I write this one down please?”

“Sure.” Ms Brown gave Peter a piece of paper and a pen and he hastily wrote something down.

“He called her that, so I told him to shut up and apologise for being a sexist, misogynistic pig-” Peter could practically feel the pride radiating out of the others. “- and Ned was tryna hold MJ back cox she really wanted to punch Flash in the face and she finds waiting for the right time to punch people hard sometimes and then he said- he told me to grow a pair of my own and stop sucking up to MJ coz she’s got a bigger-” he wrote down another word. “- than I have, and how he feels he can say that I have no idea because he certainly has not had- anyway, he said that and I told him that he clearly had problems if he’s got to insult a cis girl’s-” he pointed to the piece of paper, “- to feel good about himself and then he half managed to put me in a headlock and MJ started fighting with his goons and me and Flash started fighting.”

Ms Brown looked at her computer and then to the piece of paper. “School punishment for fighting like this is normally a three day suspension, and I think that is not what we will be going for. Two days of suspension, a week of detention, and like I said earlier, Eugene Flash’s father is considering pressing charges against you.  We will contact you if that progresses. Can we agree on that, and that Peter will be returning to school on Friday?”

They all nodded.

“Peter, I will inform your teachers and they will send you your work. Can one of you and Peter just sign this, please?”

-

There was cold, brutal, terrifying, slightly awkward silence the whole drive home.

-

Bruce and Maria excused themselves and left to go and do other things when they returned to the tower, leaving Peter with only six people waiting to yell at him in the living room, as the moment they had left the principal’s office Nat had said that if anyone expected her to tell Peter off for getting in a fight over sexism and anti-immigration views they had another thing coming.

Still, Peter felt that three ex-soldiers, a former CEO, a current CEO and an ex-assassin all together were far more than any child should have to face the combined wrath of alone. He sat on the sofa and tried not to quake beneath the glares.

Clint was just sitting in a corner looking sheepish because he knew Nat would be mad at him later on.

“Is there anything you would like to say in your defense?” Pepper asked.

“You all would have done the same thing.” Peter sank back against the cushions and wrapped his arms around himself.

“I wouldn’t have.” Pepper said simply. “Neither would Sam, Steve or Clint.”

“If someone put them in a headlock they would have.”

Tony sighed. “Look, if someone puts you in a headlock, get yourself out of it by any means necessary. But continuing to fight in the way that you did-”

“How do you know that I continued fighting?” Peter blanched.

“I hacked into the school’s security feed.” Tony folded his arms.

“You did _what_?” Pepper nearly screeched. “You can’t just _hack into_ a school’s security feed without asking!”

“A, I can and if it concerns Peter I will; B, if I asked it wouldn’t be hacking it would be accessing and C, Peter, you really need to work on hand-to-hand combat without your suit. Oh, and D, I will delete the footage, Pepper darling, and not a soul other than myself will see it in this building.”

“No.” Pepper was shocked. “I want to see it. If you’ve gone and got it, you’d better let me see it too.”

Peter put his head in his hands as everyone else crowded around Tony's phone to see the fight. He cheered up slightly when he heard noises of admiration and approval coming from the huddle.

Pepper’s face was very pale at the end of the video. “Don’t ever fight like that again.”

“Yes Mom.” Peter said quietly.

“Don’t ‘mom’ me.” there could be no denying that some colour had returned to Pepper's cheeks. “You’re grounded. For a month, no missions, and we will be telling your aunt. And she will probably ground you too and stop you from seeing your friends outside of school.”

“Don’t you think the suspension, Flash wanting to press charges and the injuries are punishment enough?” Tony challenged.

“No.”

Tony didn’t answer back.

“Will Aunt May stop me from coming here?” Peter asked.

Tony shrugged. “She probably won’t, because she knows you’ll just sneak out.”

“I am not happy about some of the things that you said in that fight. No internet for two weeks while you’re here unless you’ve been given permission and are supervised. What you did was inappropriate, irresponsible and dangerous. Getting yourself out of a headlock is one thing, continuing to fight and wrestle on the school floor is something else entirely. I am very disappointed in you.” Pepper walked out, heels clacking on the floor.

Peter hung his head and looked down at the floor sadly. “She’s really mad at me.”

Steve took a deep breath. “Right, Peter. There isn’t really- I’m not gonna yell at you. What you did was wrong but you did it for all the right reasons. I’m not gonna shout at you-”

“Peter, if he starts to use his quiet, 'I’m disappointed in you, I expected better' voice, run, because it might break you.” Bucky cut in.

Steve glared at him. “I’m not going to do that. He’s been yelled at enough already. But if you get in a fight like that again, there will be trouble.”

“There won’t be.” Bucky assured Peter. “He won’t ever tell you off for fighting at school unless it’s over a girl. Or a boy, or someone else you fancy. Personally, I’m really proud of you, but you need a heck of a lot more sparring practice.”

Steve glared at Bucky again. “You’re not supposed to stay stuff like that.”

“Go and do your homework.” Tony said. “And you might want to think about making it up to Pepper.”

Peter nodded and hastily left the room before he got in any more trouble.

-

Natasha arrive in Peter’s room by way of the air conditioning vents. He jumped back in a fright when she landed on his desk. “Argh!”

“You need to get Tony to block your air vents off.” Natasha climbed off the desk, sat on an office chair and started twirling.

“Shut off my air vents?”

“Yeah. Close the vents.” Nat gestured to the ceiling.

“Oh. I thought you meant get him to kill me.”

“No! What are you doing?” Nat pushed the chair over to Peter’s bed so she could see what he was doing on is laptop.

“I’m debating whether to write Pepper an apology or get her something.” he was looking at apology letter templates on Google.

“Weren’t you banned from the internet?”

“JARVIS said it was okay. JARVIS is supervising me.”

“Get her something. If you write a letter she’ll make you write one to Flash as well.”

“Fair point. What do I get her though?”

“A puppy.” Nat said flatly.

“I want a puppy.”

“Me too.”

“I don’t think Pepper wants one.”

“No.”

“Flowers?”

“Nah.”

“Chocolate?”

“Tacky.”

“An item of clothing?”

“That’s what Bruce would do.”

“And?”

“He could get away with that. You couldn’t.”

“Oh.” Peter paused in thought for a moment. “What about something Tony might get her?”

Natasha looked at Peter with eyebrows raised, aghast. “Are you mad?”

Peter seemed to realise what he had just said.

“Get her something she will like and genuinely appreciate, coz it’s got to get her to forgive you and move you into her good books.” Nat advised.

“What if I _did_ something?”

“That’s a good idea.”

“What if I sang a song?”

“A, you aren’t six years old; B, Thor will join in with it regardless of whether he knows the words or not.”

“True.”

“Make her dinner.”

“Isn’t that a bit naff?”

“I’ve got an idea.”

“What is it?”

“I think you should-”

-

"Peter, you’re doing schoolwork all day tomorrow.” Pepper said at dinner that night.

“I’ve done all my homework.” Peter said quietly.

Pepper scowled and Tony hid his grin behind his hand.

“He’s going to write an essay on the effects of toxic masculinity during adolescence.” Natasha said.

Peter shot her a look. “That wasn’t what we agreed on!” he hissed. Nat ignored him.

“Then he’s going to clean.” Nat finished. “He’s going to clean the fridge, the kitchen sink, the food cupboards and his bathroom. And then my bathroom.” 

Pepper seemed to approve of this. “OK.”

“I have a request.” Peter said shyly.

“What?”

Tony looked like he couldn’t believe his luck that Peter had turned out to have such nerve.

“If… if you get called into school again can there be less of you, please? Nine is scary.”

“You can have ten.” Pepper promised.

Peter groaned and put his head in his arms. The others all laughed.

“I’ll resign.” Sam said to Pepper.

She glared at him. “Sam Wilson don’t you dare.”

“I didn’t know you could clean, Peter.” Steve said.

Peter went bright red.

“He can’t,” Natasha said, beaming. “I’m going to tell him how to do it.”

“You can clean?” Clint gaped at her.

“Key undercover surveillance skill.”

“Is it?”

“And that,” Natasha placed her feet on the table, “is why I’m a better spy than you are.” she winked at Peter as argument and outrage began over who was the best spy, fully distracting everyone from Peter.

The night ended with Clint being held up on knives stuck to the wall, Thor with a bucket on his head and Peter slinking off to peace and quiet.

-

“You learnt your lesson?”

Peter was slumped inside his bathtub with a cloth and a bottle of cleaning spray. He nodded weakly.

“He’s learnt his lesson.” Nat assured Pepper, who was supervising from the doorway. “Don’t worry, it’s only my bathroom and the kitchen sink left.”

Peter groaned.


End file.
